1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to jackpot gambling games in general, and to a method and apparatus for combining landbase and online jackpot games in particular.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The present invention relates to card game tournaments. More specifically, the present invention relates to a progressive “Sit & Go” card game tournament and a progressive scheduled card game tournament.
“Sit & Go” tournaments are one of the most popular forms of gaming tournaments, such as poker tournaments. Unlike a scheduled tournament, which begins at a set date and time, a “Sit & Go” tournament begins immediately when enough people take their seat at a poker table. For example, a 10-player “Sit & Go” tournament will commence once 10 players take their seat at the table.
These tournaments are very popular with online gaming rooms, such as but not limited to poker rooms, as the tables fill up rather quickly and players can play these tournaments around the clock. Online games are played from online stations, and are played either through usage of downloaded software, or as web-based. All a player has to do is join such a tournament, whether online or on a physical room, wait for the table to fill up and start playing when the last player takes his seat. There is no need to come in at a specific time, as in a scheduled tournament, so a player can play whenever he wishes and/or has time.
The structure of a “Sit & Go” tournament is as follows. Each player who registers to play a “Sit & Go” tournament pays a “buy-in”, which is pooled together with the other players' buy-ins and becomes the prize pool, and a fee which goes to the room. For example a $5+$0.5 tournament has a $5 buy-in (which means that a 10-player tournament of this type will have a prize pool of $50) and a $0.50 tournament fee (the room will thus earn $5 from such a 10-player tournament).
The room can structure the prizes in many different ways, and the prize pool can be given only to the winner or divided (in different proportions) between the winner and some of the runners up. In most 10-player “Sit & Go” tournaments (which are the most popular type of “Sit & Go” events), the top 3 finishers are paid.
The major difference between a scheduled tournament and a “Sit & Go” tournament is that a scheduled tournament will start at a predefined time and date, while the “Sit & Go” will commence play as soon as 10 players (or some other defined number of players) take their seat at the card table.
Since players know exactly when a scheduled tournament will take place well in advance of the actual tournament (a tournament starting time is announced days and sometimes even months before it begins), scheduled tournaments tend to be rather large events with hundreds or even thousands of players taking part. The appeal of a large poker tournament is that it will have a large prize pool, and the winner of the tournament can win a very significant prize.
There is therefore a need for a method and apparatus for connecting a multiplicity of game devices of various types in a common jackpot, in order to enable large winning when hitting a jackpot, and thus provide additional attraction to each game.